Wild elephant tramples couple dead in north Bengal

Siliguri: A middle-aged man and a woman have been trampled to death by a wild elephant at Gairkhata tea estate at Dhupguri in Jalpaiguri.

The incident took place late on Thursday night the tea estate’s Hindupara division. Workers spotted their dead bodies when they went to pluck tea leaves today morning.

Jaladhar Roy, the ranger of Binnaguri forest range, said that while the male victim has been identified as Karmi Minz (45), the identity of the woman is yet to be ascertained.

“A herd of 25-30 wild elephants has been roaming about at Lankapara area but we had no news of elephants foraying into Gairkhata. But on being alerted today morning, we rushed in and found that the couple has actually been trampled to death by elephants,” Roy said.

Workers of the tea garden have told police and forest officials that they did not see the couple when they wound up work on Thursday afternoon. Going by this, officials are assuming that the couple had probably come to the tea garden at night or in the wee hours today for whatever purpose.

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